Tips for Early Season Trout-Fishing Success, with BJ Gerhart
Apr 1, 2024
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Veteran guide BJ Gerhart shares expert tips on early season trout fishing, addressing challenges of cold water and high flows. Topics include UV materials in fly tying, dry dropper fishing, bead colors on nymphs, casting issues with beadhead flies, and differences in fly rods. Listener insights cover wading safety, Great Lakes salmon fishing, and proper fish handling practices.
Understanding fish behavior in early spring is crucial for successful trout fishing.
Streamers and sinking lines are effective for targeting hungry post-winter trout.
Exercise caution near spawning areas to preserve healthy fish populations.
Deep dives
Early Spring Fishing and Fish Behavior
Fishing in early spring presents challenges due to cold water and high water levels. Understanding fish behavior and movement as water temperatures rise is crucial. Fish like brown trout start moving to shallower areas along the banks when water temperatures reach 46 to 50 degrees. It is important to avoid targeting spawning rainbows on their beds during this time.
Streamer Fishing Strategies for Spring Trout
In early spring, brown trout are voraciously hungry after coming out of winter in a caloric deficiency. Streamer fishing can be very productive during this time, as fish are actively seeking food. A slower retrieve is often more effective during colder water temperatures, as fish may not chase streamers as aggressively. Using sinking lines or sink tips can help get the streamers down to where the fish are holding in slower seams, eddies, and structure.
Fly Patterns and Techniques for Spring Trout
Experimenting with fly patterns that imitate emerging insects or baitfish can be successful in early spring. Understanding the optimal fishing times based on increasing sunlight and water temperatures is key. Adjusting retrieval speeds and using sinking lines based on water conditions can enhance success when targeting hungry post-winter trout looking for food.
Caution and Conservation in Spring Trout Fishing
Exercise caution when fishing near spawning areas of fish like rainbow trout to avoid disturbing the spawning process. Be mindful of river conditions and the potential impact of your fishing activities on the spawning fish. Additionally, prioritizing conservation by respecting catch-and-release practices and avoiding targeting fish on their spawning beds can help maintain healthy fish populations during the spring season.
Tips for Early Spring Fishing Strategies
When fishing streamers in higher water, it's beneficial to use a sink line to keep the streamer in the "hot zone" where fish are likely to ambush their prey. Varying the fishing angle depending on water type is crucial, with upstream throws and mending lines to entice fish to strike. By incorporating swing motions into the fishing technique, like throwing a mend at the end of strips, you can trigger strikes from fish, especially at the swing back upriver.
Seasonal Fly Selection and Approach
Using woolly buggers in early spring can be highly effective, with darker colors working better as water gets dirtier. Transitioning to white and natural tan patterns on bright, clear days can yield results. Understanding the timing and patterns of Mother's Day caddis and blue wing olives can be pivotal for fly selection, with varying success rates based on silhouettes and color choices in the springtime.
This week, my guest is guide BJ Gerhart [33:50], a longtime veteran guide at Three Rivers Ranch in Idaho and one of the savviest anglers I know. He shares his tips for getting around the common problems of early season trout fishing, mainly cold water and high flows.
In the Fly Box this week, we have some helpful tips from listeners, and some interesting questions for Tom, including:
If adult trout can’t see UV light, as you said in last week’s podcast, what should I do with all the UV and flashy materials I have in my fly-tying collection?
What kind of standard trout flies are closest to the kebari flies used in tenkara fishing?
When fishing a dry dropper, all the trout took my dry fly yet when I removed the nymph I stopped getting strikes. What caused this?
Why are beads on nymphs usually gold?
Why is my casting worse when I use beadhead flies?
What are the main differences between the 9-foot and the 8-foot, 5-inch Helios rods for a 10-weight line?
Why is fly fishing for salmon in Great Lakes streams not as popular as steelhead fishing?
When choosing a fly line for a two-handed rod, should I add the grain weight of the sinking head to the grain weight of the Skagit head?
A great tip for wading safety with a buddy
A listener raves about the Orvis rod repair team
Do you think I should stop trout fishing at 60 degrees just to be safe?
Are there public resources I can use to find out if a river might be too high to fish?
A listener gives a tip for adding a long mono rig easily without the need to tie a clinch knot to the permanent loop in a fly line.
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